Journey through the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S

ADVANTAGES

In December 1864, President Abraham Lincoln wrote out a story for his friend, journalist Noah Brooks. It was entitled: The President’s Last, Shortest and Best Speech. It read: “On Thursday of last week two ladies from Tennessee came before the President asking the release of their husbands held as prisoners of war at Johnson’s Island. They were put off till Friday, when they came again; and were again put off to Saturday. At each of the interviews one of the ladies urged that her husband was a religious man. On Saturday the President ordered the release of the prisoners, and then said to this lady ‘You say your husband is a religious man; tell him when you meet him, that I say I am not much of a judge of religion, but that, in my opinion, the religion that sets men to rebel and fight against their government, because, as they think, that government does not sufficiently help some men to eat their bread on the sweat of other mens faces, is not the sort of religion upon which people can get to heaven!”1

Abraham Lincoln - Mini Biography - Biography

Mrs. Lincoln’s relationship with Mrs. Grant would never recover. When Mrs. Lincoln invited the Grants to come to Ford’s Theater on April 15, 1863, Mrs. Grant declined – determined to accompany her husband to visit their children in New Jersey. For four years, Mrs. Lincoln had lived in a fish bowl – largely without adequate protection for her or her husband. Washington chronicler Margaret Leech wrote: “Not the least curious aspect of Mary Lincoln’s character was her tolerance of a lack of protection. In the semi-public mansion, there was a want of security and privacy which would have been unthinkable in other residences of the crime-ridden capital. There was no watchman on duty in the parlors, and costly furnishings were stolen and defaced by the sight-seers who roamed at will on the first floor. The front door was open all day and late into the evening. The attendant was often absent from his post, especially after office hours and on Sundays. On many occasions, people walked into the house at night and wandered about the rooms, and sometimes even went upstairs, without finding anyone to direct them.”86

Abraham Lincoln - Mini Biography

After their estrangement in 1841, it was the wife of Sangamon Journal editor Simeon Francis who helped bring them together at the Francis home in 1842. Until her death, Eliza Rumsey Francis retained her reticence about her involvement in the reconciliation of Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln. Biographer Jesse W. Weik repeatedly tried to break her reserve: “She acknowledged the receipt of my letters, but in each case declined to deny the story or further enlighten me regarding the subject, on the ground that, as Lincoln and his wife were both dead, she felt a delicacy in disclosing to the world all the details of their courtship.”33

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“There is no doubt that Mary Todd was highly temperamental. There is no doubt that she was super-critical. There is no doubt that she often devoid of tact. There is no doubt that was — during a large portion of her married life — a nervous and mental invalid, subject to violent fits of anger, and almost childish tantrums. There is no doubt that she was almost insanely jealous. There is no doubt that — at time — she nagged her patient husband outrageous,” wrote Lincoln scholar Jewett E. Ricker Jr. “But against these traits, it is only fait — I think — to contrast her almost fanatical loyalty; her excellent judgment in times of great stress; her unswerving love and devotion both to her husband and to her children and — from a practical point of view — her driving ambition which forced Lincoln to make the most of his ability and his opportunities.” 32

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Opinions of their marriage have long varied widely. Lincoln biographer William E. Barton wrote: “It is possible to prove on the testimony of unimpeached witnesses that Lincoln loved his wife passionately, and that he did not love her at all; that he married Mary Todd because he loved her and had already answered in his own heart all his previous questions and misgivings, and that he married her because she and her relatives practically compelled him to do so, and that he went to the marriage altar muttering that he was going to hell; that Mary Todd not only admired Abraham Lincoln, but loved him with a beautiful and wifely devotion, and that she hated him and never ceased to wreak revenge upon him for having once deserted her upon the eve of their announced marriage.” 20

HealthCare : ABRAHAM LINCOLN : Life Story : 23

The Lincolns had a rollercoaster courtship and a rollercoaster marriage: Harriet Hanks, daughter of Dennis Hanks’ daughter recalled “He seldom ever wore his coat in the house, and went to the table in his shirt-sleeves, which annoyed his wife, who loved to put on style. One day he undertook to correct his child and his wife was determined that he should not, and attempted to take it from him; but in this she failed. She tried tongue-lashing, but met with the same fate, for Mr. Lincoln corrected the child, as a father ought to, in the face of his wife’s anger, and that too without changing his countenance or making any reply to her.” 19